Biohydrogen and Methane Production from Sugarcane Leaves Pretreated by Deep Eutectic Solvents and Enzymatic Hydrolysis by Cellulolytic Consortia

Abstract

This study determined the optimal conditions for the deep eutectic solvent (DES) pretreatment of sugarcane leaves and the best fermentation mode for hydrogen and methane production from DES-pretreated sugarcane leaves. Choline chloride (ChCl):monoethanolamine (MEA) is the most effective solvent for removing lignin from sugarcane leaves. The optimum conditions were a ChCl: MEA molar ratio of 1:6, 120 °C, 3 h, and substrate-to-DES solution ratio of 1:12. Under these conditions, 86.37 ± 0.36% lignin removal and 73.98 ± 0.42% hemicellulose removal were achieved, whereas 84.13 ± 0.77% cellulose was recovered. At a substrate loading of 4 g volatile solids (VS), the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) processes yielded maximum hydrogen productions of 3187 ± 202 and 2135 ± 315 mL H2/L, respectively. In the second stage, methane was produced using the hydrogenic effluent. SSF produced 5923 ± 251 mL CH4/L, whereas SHF produced 3583 ± 128 mL CH4/L. In a one-stage methane production process, a maximum methane production of 4067 ± 320 mL CH4/L with a substrate loading of 4 g VS was achieved from the SSF process. SSF proved to be more efficient than SHF for producing hydrogen from DES-pretreated sugarcane leaves in a two-stage hydrogen and methane production process as well as a one-stage methane production process.